Eternal
by Jess D
Summary: Time has gone by for the Nerima Wrecking Crew as this tale spotlights two Amazonian martial artists in the distant future. One old and aged while the other is...different.


Eternal Love  
  
by Jess Dougherty  
  
***********************************************************************  
Disclaimer: By all rights by law, Characters in this story belong   
to Rumiko Takashi and their receptive companies. Please do not sue as   
I am a student without any source of income or wealth. The story   
however is something that had been floating around in my head for a   
while now. So, I decided to put into writing, hope you enjoy it.   
  
" " = Japanese  
{ } = Chinese  
_ _ = Thoughts  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
An old woman lay down on a straw mat as she looked up to the   
ceiling with her deep lavender eyes. Her face had a far away look as   
though recalling happier time. Her long white hair flowed under her   
small and frail looking body like a field of snow. A staff laid by her   
bed side as she tried to get some sleep.  
  
Just when sleep seemed to have finally come and started to claim   
its guest, her old but alert eyes caught something in its sights. A   
small shadow entering from the open door caught her attention. She   
smiled a little bit, but fear was evident in her eyes.  
  
Her old and wrinkled lips curved into a small smile, much like   
another used to do so long, long ago. A descendent of this old woman   
and she spoke.  
  
{I know you're here, might as well show yourself. That is the   
reason after all that I invited you to be here.}  
  
From the far right corner came a deep voice of a young man, the   
opposite direction where the old woman had been looking at. {I did   
not think you would want ME here. Especially at this time, since   
you never really did like me.}  
  
The old woman smiled and kept on looking toward the ceiling as she   
recalled how the shadow looked like. At least how he once looked   
like so many years ago. Nearly two hundred and forty years ago.  
  
{Why don't you come out of the shadows in your natural form? Or at   
least how you look like now in human form.}  
  
{Are you sure you want too?} A hint of fear present in the voice of   
the shadow.  
  
{Yes, I'm sure...... Muu Tsuu.}  
  
{As you wish my lil Xian.}  
  
Out of the shadows, in front of the elder Xian Up, once known as   
Shampoo, came out what was a young man. Long raven black hair that   
once had flowed to mid back was cut shoulder length. The river of   
black silk that was his hair braided into a traditional Chinese   
pigtail and kept clean and groomed. He stood at about nearly seven   
feet with broad shoulders, a long white leather coat over his tall   
form.  
  
Under it he wore a tight black turtleneck sweater which defined his   
sculptured and firm muscles. Loose black slacks with a braided black   
belt clothed his waist and below. Stylish black boots were at his feet   
and large, deep emerald green eyes bore down on the laying woman that   
laid on the bed.  
  
_Wow._ A small thought escaped into the deep recess of the mind   
that belonged to Shampoo.  
  
Mousse looked at the elder Shampoo and spoke first. "You look well   
Shampoo."  
  
Snapping back to reality and realizing that Mousse was speaking in   
Japanese, she answered back.  
  
"As are you Mousse."  
  
A pain filled expression came to his face as he turned away from   
Shampoo and stared out the window. His shoulders slumped as his hands   
went to his coat pockets. Thus turning away from her and facing out   
the small wooden window.  
  
"Please Shampoo, don't call me that."  
  
Shampoo was a little shocked at the request her friend asked of her   
and got up with her staff in hand to see what was wrong. She hopped   
over much like her great-grandmother used and stood next to the tall   
man she once had known, or thought she had known well.  
  
"What is wrong Mousse?"  
  
He quickly shrugged, casting aside the hand of the elder woman from   
his shoulder. He turned to face her and a scowl crossing his face for   
a moment then turned away from her. Fear came out of the face of the   
old woman, but only for a moment then cast it aside. She continued to   
stare at the young man before her and her memory started to travel   
back in time.  
  
***  
^FLASHBACK^  
  
"Mousse, you can never have Shampoo, so stop trying. Shampoo's   
heart belong only to arien. Only to Ranma."  
  
Mousse stood before Shampoo, tears streaming down his face as he   
heard those words again and again in his face. As he had heard over   
and over for the past two years. His look turning from anger, to   
pain, to one of determination.  
  
He stood tall and firm, and at the age of eighteen now, it looked   
good on him to do so as he had grown. He was no longer the five foot   
eight martial artist that had arrived at Nerima to challenge Ranma. He   
had grown somewhat to a tall six-foot young man.  
  
Then he spoke, his voice coming out deep, dark and serious. {Xian   
Pu I challenge you to a skill against skill Amazon contest.   
Intergender, me against you and NOT for your hand in marriage. I want   
to prove something to you for the last time. Then I shall leave.}  
  
Shampoo laughed at the face Mousse was giving her and in all over   
confidence spoke out to the young man she (thought) knew so well. she   
nodded and took out her bondari out of her hiding place. Going into a   
fighting stance, her face became serious as spoke in Chinese.  
  
{Begin.}  
  
***  
  
"Mousse, why do you wish for me to stop calling you that?"  
  
"Because..." He answered without looking at her or turning   
around to face her.  
  
"Because what?" She grabbed his arm and turned him to face a   
monstrous face. His once emerald green eyes were gone, replaced by   
to red pools of energy as they glowed with power. Fangs came out of   
his mouth as he revealed to her his vampiric nature. And he spoke in   
a dark, almost demonic tone.  
  
"BECAUSE... MOUSSE OR MUU TSUU DIED THE DAY HE FOUGHT YOU. NOW ONLY   
LIVES THE VAMPIRE KNOWN AS SHO SHANG."  
  
Before he completely turned away from a startled Shampoo his face   
returned to normal. He once again looked like the young man she once   
knew years ago.  
  
"I came here for one final time Shampoo, to say my good-byes to   
you."  
  
Shampoo got startled back into reality with his current words, her   
mind racing. _Did he know?_  
  
To answer her thoughts almost as though he read her mind, he spoke.   
"Yes. I can tell your dying. You don't live the last few hundred years   
years as... what I am, without learning a few things about something   
you can never have. About death." The last two words came out in a   
sad tone, almost lonely.  
  
Shampoo hopped back to her place with Mousse, or rather Keui as he   
wished to be called now. She was about to speak when he continued.  
  
"I'm sorry I always held back everytime we fought. Maybe if I had   
been a real Amazon male all those years ago, none of what is now   
would be. A sad smile came to his face as he cast his eyes down. "Huh,   
story of my life; full of wishes and dreams and never to ever come   
true." He shoulders shrugged as his face came up again only to glance   
at Shampoo then just as quickly looked outside to the moon.  
  
Shampoo looked at Mousse with pain in her eyes. She taught a new   
way now, a redefined version of the Amazon traditions to better suit   
those problems for future Amazon generations. Problems much like her   
own, so they won't lead back to living a pain filled life like her   
own. Especially her own great-granddaughter, Jae El.  
  
So they can all be free to chose those who they love and not be   
forced to marry the first man to defeat them. A best two out of three   
contest. Prove yourself worthy once, prove yourself indefinitely in   
the second one. Meanwhile living together, and only dating each other   
after the first successful win. To see if they really liked each other   
and not some obsession like hers had been with Ranma.  
  
***  
^FLASHBACK.^  
  
Mousse's glasses had long fallen and broken somewhere as his   
unruly green eyes looked through haze at the lavender blur in front of   
him. He panted as he looked at Shampoo and wished only to free her   
from Ranma, from a future of pain that each would bring to the other.   
He knew Ranma TRUELY, MADLY, and DEEPLY loved Akane. He only wished to   
free them both from the pain that this old outdated tradition brought   
and would bring them.  
  
Shampoo was not in better shape herself as she looked across at her   
opponent in Mousse. Most of his arsenal was all over the Nekohanten   
and most of Nerima as the battle had proven harsh. People had gathered   
around now, to see but most had left due to the intesenity of it all.   
One of her bondari had been broken to pieces and she had resorted   
toward using her sword. The same one she had carried when first   
coming here, to hunt for female Ranma.  
  
"Give up Mousse... (pant)... you never... (cough) win."  
  
"We shall... (cough) see Shampoo. We... (pant) shall... (pant) see."  
  
They both jumped at the same time as an unseen chain snaked its way   
to Shampoo around her blade and pulled it away. She threw her bondari   
into a full blown blow toward his head when a large staff broke   
through it and over her head.  
  
Everything went black.  
  
***  
  
"I never did get to thank you Mousse."  
  
"Huh?!?" A puzzled look on his face was clearly shown.  
  
"For defeating me all those years ago and freeing me from my   
engagement to Ranma. I learned the hard way he did not love me,   
especially since the following month he broke off his engagement to   
Ukyou. And refused to go challenge me or you to regain what I thought   
he wanted." She looked down at the pain her memory gave her. "What   
was supposed to be his."  
  
Coming out of his shock, Mousse, or Keui, looked down at the memory   
of what had happened after he defeated Shampoo. Cologne had been there   
to see the fight and had not agreed to the pre-fight stipulation. In   
her eyes they were married and Shampoo had been miserable the whole   
month.  
  
"You don't have to thank me Xian, it only brought you pain,   
remember. I am nothing more but a harbinger of suffering." His   
gaze again went to her and before she looked up. When she did, he did   
his best to gaze anywhere but her. As old feelings started to come   
back into him, feelings he wished only to bury in the past.  
  
Then his mind began to wonder again as he looked on toward what   
was once his hometown. Remembering only the good times but before he   
knew it, returning toward times after leaving. Times when he lived in   
Japan, with his love. The time they spent 'married' and before his   
'death.'  
  
He had avoided her the first whole month of their marriage, there   
only month before unforeseen consequences. Never pushing her into   
anything to show her that he would not abuse his newfound position.   
But then, one night, he did abuse his position. One night when she   
pushed and he caved like dominos.  
  
They had actually shared a moment together, at least two weeks   
after the fight, but it had been an accident. She had drunken too much   
at her loss of Ranma as her fiancee. She was in emotional pain over   
being married to Mousse and had accidentally seduced him. Even if he   
knew that deep down he had wanted it badly. He had taken advantage of   
his position. The one thing he swore never to do and had done so.  
  
He hated himself deeply after that, then when the following week   
Ranma had angered his master. Happosai had called upon and released   
a Vampire demon which turned him into what he was now.  
  
Mousse stayed quiet as he looked onto into the village, looking at   
all the buildings that were dark and peaceful. Everybody sleeping   
easily in their small lifetimes and not living in torment every   
moment as he had. Shampoo, looked on allowing Mousse his little   
moment, with concern in her eyes. Concern and realization at how much   
she had truly tortured this wonderful man, friend, and husband.  
  
As well, at one time... lover.  
  
Mousse kept on remembering and berating himself into the ground.  
  
The time for a confrontation between the demon and the martial   
artists of Nerima came. He being the first, the first to fall victim   
to its curse.  
  
The demon had taken advantage of his depression and guilt over   
taking advantage of Shampoo. It had seduced him and had fallen easily   
to it as he had taken advantage of his darling love. He felt ready to   
die, but instead had been punished for eternity. Now he was a vampire.  
  
Time passed.  
  
He had been there for his own funeral, after Ranma, Ryoga and   
Kunon fought and defeated the demon. He had been written up as a   
causality when he went missing for a week. Then he remembered who he   
met before leaving Nerima, his wife. Before leaving his entire life   
behind, to allow her a better future.  
  
***  
  
Crawling into his window, he looked around for his things to gather   
before leaving everything behind. He had gathered all his weapons and   
what little he had when the light beside his bed turned on. He stood   
there frozen and looking a tear-filled eyes of Shampoo.  
  
"M..Mousse?!?" Shock apparent on her face.  
  
{Uh... Hello Xian.}  
  
{How... how can you be alive? Ranma say he saw you fall after demon   
bit you on the neck and when nobody found your body. It was thought  
and concluded that you died.}  
  
Turning away, he whispered. {I wish I had.}  
  
Then she noticed the small traveling bag on the floor next to him   
and understood quickly. Her quiet happiness at finding out her husband   
was alive turned to pain. She looked to him and spoke.  
  
{Mousse what are you doing, you can't be leaving... I have...}  
  
His finger fell on her lips and Mousse spoke.  
  
_I hope I do this right._  
  
{Sllleeeepppp Shhhaammmpppoooo. Thhhiiiissss iiisss aaallllll aaa   
dddrrreeeaaammm.} And she fell asleep in his arms. he picked up   
the bag and looked down at the young woman in his arms. He began to   
lay her quietly and gently on her bed.  
  
{I wish I could be with you but I've caused you nothing but pain   
and dishonor. Now I'm not even a man who could learn to be a true   
husband to you. I am nothing but a monster since the day we fought and   
it seems fate has deemed for eternity.} He bent down and kissed her on   
her forehead.  
  
Walking over toward the window and whispered.  
  
{Good-bye my lil Xian Pu.}  
  
Then he took one last look back at her sleeping form and leapt into   
the night.  
  
***  
  
"Mousse?!?! Mousse!!!!" Shampoo waved her small arms back and   
forth in Mousse's vision, snapping him out of his own little walk   
down memory lane.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"What happened to you there Mousse? Where were you?"  
  
Surprise and then a small blush creeping onto his cheeks, Mousse   
looked away. "No where Xian, and please remember, my name is Keui   
now."  
  
"Hush. To me you will always be my darling husband Muu Tsuu."  
  
"HUH?!?!?" Shock is something that can really hit a man living for   
the past two hundred and fifty years in full swing. Sure letting out a   
little here and a little there make you seem human, but this was too   
much. Shampoo calling him husband.  
  
"What do you mean Shampoo?"  
  
A sly grin appeared on her face as she spoke. "You really think I   
fell asleep that night you came back?"  
  
"Uh,...uh... yeah." _How did she know what I was thinking._  
  
"Well I did, but my memory stayed intact. I told my grandmother   
about it and she told me never to go after you. She told me what you   
had become and why you chose to do what you did and leave. I never   
married after you 'died,' did you know that?" The old woman blushed   
and looked away.  
  
A dumbfounded vampire simply shook his head and answered. "No, I   
did not." He had come to see her once every five years and when he   
had seen her with a young girl, she had called Per Fyum but that had   
been all. He was brought back to reality as Shampoo spoke.  
  
"I waited Mousse. I waited and I waited for the past two hundred   
and forty years for to come back and you never did." Her back was   
still to him, but it shook a little bit as she spoke. "Did you know   
that we had a daughter? And now a great-granddaughter?"  
  
"I... I... I knew that YOU had a child and her name, was , but I   
didn't know that she... they were ours. I thought you had found   
someone else, because I you didn't love me." Mousse, the vampire, who   
had come here with a sad note, was now standing before an ancient   
Shampoo with his face contorted in pure shock and surprise.  
  
She turned around and Mousse stepped back as tears filled the eyes   
of the Amazon great elder since Cologne herself. He gulped his own   
shame back and started to go for the door. "I'm sorry I was an   
unworthy husband Shampoo. I'm sorry you had to suffer an indignity of   
having my child. I'm sorry I was ever born into your life. Don't   
worry, I'm going to face a sunrise soon. Maybe then, you'll receive   
your honor back."  
  
He stopped as a hand held his right shoulder and he turned around   
to face Shampoo, with tears in his emerald eyes. Tears showing his   
soul still trapped in the demon body his form had become. He was   
surprised to see tears in her eyes as well.  
  
{Muu Tsuu, I am sorry for never telling you.... that... I love you.}  
  
Mousse fell to his knees and looked now face to face on the staff   
ridden old woman. Tears streaming down their faces and then without   
warning they kissed. Their first real kiss since that night they had   
shared so long ago.  
  
Time almost seemed to stop for the two of them. Everything was   
silent and still and then they broke apart.  
  
Both smiling, the pain of the past two hundred and forty years of   
hidden emotions, lies, and misjudgments being swept away with tears   
of joy. Then Shampoo broke the silence by speaking.  
  
"Make me like you Mousse. Let be with you and be together for at   
least a couple of years. A century at most, please."  
  
"Shampoo,... you don't know what you speak off. This.. what I have   
is nothing... its nothing more than a curse. You don't want it, it had   
nearly seduced me with its power many times. Please you can't ask me   
what you say you want."  
  
She only got closer to the retreating figure and looked at him with   
those same watery eyes and asked again. "Please Mousse. I've already   
lived one lifetime raising our family, had a fulfilling life, and   
am dying ALONE. Let me live on happily century with you and then we   
can die together, please?" Tears streaming down her face as she cried   
in front of a man, one of the few things she swore she would never do.  
  
He looked at her eyes and his once thought cold and black heart   
burned with passion. The same passion he had for her and will always   
have for her burned. He didn't wanna do this but she was right, even   
he wanted just one lifetime with her. Just one.  
  
He closed his eyes and answered.  
  
"Ok." He opened his eyes and saw a smiling old woman but her eyes   
were still hers, from so long ago. "Ok, I will my lil Xian Pu, I will   
do it."  
  
She reached up with her hand and touched his face. "Thank you."   
Then she fell limp in his arms as life started catch up with her and   
it started drain from her. She was starting to die.  
  
Moving quickly he licked her neck, three times at the spot where he   
would make his mark. He gave himself a little time as his fangs came   
out from their hiding sheaths and then looked at her with his own   
emerald green eyes and looking at her smiling face, he bite her.  
  
*****  
  
The following day, Muu Tsuu, grandson of the elder Xian Pu with his   
granddaughter Jae El celebrated the passing of a great leader. The   
whole village mourned and gave their gifts to her as they buried her   
with her ancestors and next to the grave of the father, husband and   
soulmate of the elder who passed.  
  
On the inscription it read:  
  
Here lies one of the greatest women. Taught by a legend to become a   
legend. Her strength and spirit will always be with us. Now and   
Forever."  
  
As everyone left to do their daily lives, the young seventeen year   
old Jae El stayed behind and paid her last respects to her great-   
grandmother. Her long deep lavender hair and emerald green eyes closed   
wearing a traditional white Chinese suit. Much like great-grandmother   
in her youth, from what she saw in her old photos.  
  
Bowing her head, she spoke softly.  
  
{Good bye Great-grandmother. You taught me and well and I promise   
to make you proud of me someday as I was proud to call you my great-   
grandmother. Bye.} She bowed and started to leave when she heard a   
strange noise behind her.  
  
Turning around, she a man with long black hair in gajin clothing   
stepping in front of her great-grandmothers grave. She instantly got   
angry. "Hey who you stranger?"  
  
The man did not turn around but spoke. {Don't worry Lil Jae, I am a   
friend of your great-grandmothers. I just came to pay my respects   
and to meet her again after so long.}  
  
{How do you know my great-grandmother?} Asked little Jae El with   
suspicion about this stranger.  
  
The man spoke. {You can say she was my... first love.}  
  
{Huh?}  
  
The man turned around and spoke to the young girl in a weird sound   
monologue. {Don'tttt worryyyyy yourselffff littleeee oneeee, I'mmm   
hereee justtt tooo payyyy myyy respectsss tooo the deadddd warriorrr.   
Youuu cannn leaveee withoutttt worryyy.}  
  
{Oh...ok.} She snapped out of it and smiled at the man staring at   
her and then turned around to head back to her village, and the man   
sat against the stone marker.  
  
***  
  
Night fell and Mousse felt the ground beneath him move as a hand   
popped out next to him. His arms folded as he looked towards the sky   
and was deep in thought. Then just as quickly stood before him a   
young woman with long deep lavender haired in two buns before him.   
She looked to be about twenty years of age and fair and flawless   
skin with a rather short, near mini-dress reaching up to her waist.   
Leaving the rest of her bottom exposed and telling the whole world   
that the hair on her head was her natural hair color.  
  
Mousse looked at the rejuvenated Shampoo, admiring her body in a   
way he once would never allow himself to do. That was before they   
confessed long and deep hidden feelings. Casting his eyes down, he   
quickly turned around in haste when he realized her lack of clothing   
from her waist down.  
  
As he looked away, Shampoo couldn't help but laugh as she had   
caught sight of the red face Mousse had just shown.  
  
"What's matter Mousse, never seen a pretty girl naked before?   
Hahaha." A young again Shampoo threw her head back as she laughed a   
raw and full mischief laugh into the night.  
  
Blushing even darker, if that's' possible, he responded. "Well,...   
no. Except you,... all those years ago." Again blushing even deeper.  
  
Shampoo stood there with a look of total shock, finding out that   
the moment she had shared with Mousse all those years ago was special   
to him as it was to her. And not only that but it was the only   
experience he had ever had like her.  
  
Tears started to stream down her face as she looked at Mousse and   
asked, "Mousse, you mean to tell me that you were a virgin then and   
even now are again?"  
  
Mousse looked down toward his feet and nodded slowly.  
  
"But I thought that after living for so long that you..."  
  
"No..."  
  
Tears came out of her eyes as she fiercely hugged Mousse and   
cried in his shoulder. Mousses' face lighting up and then turning   
crimson as a certain part started to rub against his male anatomy.   
"Uh Shampoo, maybe we should, uh... get you some cloths?"  
  
"Huh, oh that." She smiled a sly grin and looked at Mousse. "You   
sure you want that?"  
  
"Uh... so how's unnatural life like for you?" He spoke, trying to   
change the subject from where things were leading into.  
  
"It ok, feels weird but..." She looked toward her village and   
signed. That was now another lifetime ago and where she had found   
love once again. She looked back down at Mousse.  
  
"But..."  
  
"But this life is better now, I have my arien back." She glanced at   
him as she smiled her resilient little smile she always smiled so long   
ago at him. Mousse couldn't help but smile at her too.  
  
Before another action could be taken, Shampoo spoke out to her   
ever-endlessly youthful husband. {So, you still wanna go by the name   
Keui? Or are you going to be my darling arien, Mousse?}  
  
Sitting there looking at Shampoo, Mousse stood stock still for what   
seemed like an eternity. Shampoo's smile and happy nature started to   
falter as she became a little worried, until he smiled at her and   
answered her.  
  
{As you wish, beloved. I am Mousse for you and ONLY you, now and   
always.} He smiled at her.  
  
Then, both smiling, Mousse got up and pulled Shampoo up with him   
and covered her with his leather coat. Closing it at the front to make   
it into a makeshift dress. They began to run into the woods and leapt   
up into the branches and leapt away into the night. The forestry   
jungles of China coming to life with laughter, all into the night and   
possibly for all eternity. Now and forever.  
  
The End.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Well, that's it folks. So tell me, do you think I did the characters   
by Rumiko Takahashi justice? Or do you think I crashed and burned   
before ever taking off?  
  
Well, whatever you opinion may be, you know where to send it so, until   
next time, enjoy yourselves.  
  
P.S. Oh yeah, be sure to take a peek at my other ongoing little series   
between Mousse/Shampoo in 'Changes.'  
  
Later.  



End file.
